Chelsea beat Manchester City to win Subway Cup final, keep quadruple on track

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Chelsea checked off their first piece of silverware in their ongoing pursuit of a quadruple under new manager Sonia Bompastor following their 2-1 win against Manchester City in the Subway Cup final on Saturday.

Mayra Ramirez’s first-half goal and an own goal from Yui Hasegawa proved the difference in a tight contest. The triumph continues Chelsea’s undefeated run under Bompastor since the French coach’s arrival at the end of last season and consigned Nick Cushing to defeat in his first match in interim charge since taking over from Gareth Taylor earlier this week.

The Women’s Super League leaders opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Lauren James threaded Mayra Ramirez in behind City’s backline. Goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita did well to block the initial shot but was unlucky as the ball ricocheted off defender Laia Aleixandri back into the path of Ramirez, who walked it over the line.

City responded well, Vivianne Miedema, Mary Fowler and Khadija “Bunny” Shaw putting Chelsea’s defence under pressure. But quality in the third was largely for want with both teams struggling to find quality on the ball and not helped by the arid state of the pitch at Pride Park, the home of second-tier Derby County.

Bompastor’s side, however, seemed to react better to the conditions, knocking the ball into space behind City’s backline for Ramirez to run onto. The Colombia international should have done better to double Chelsea’s advantage mid-way through the first half after a slip from Aleixandri gifted her a golden one-on-one opportunity.

City continued to be the better side for much of the contest and were rewarded for their diligence in the 65th minute as Aoba Fujino’s stunning solo strike restored parity.

But a moment of misfortune with 13 minutes remaining decided the contest as Ramirez’s low, fizzing cross bobbled upwards towards Hasegawa, who turned the ball into the far corner of her own net.

Chelsea and City will face each other three more times over the next two weeks, once in the WSL and twice over a two-legged Champions League quarter-final.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Chelsea, Manchester City, UK Women's Football

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